10.5 mpg in town, to me, isn't THAT bad. Not for a vehicle with the aerodynamics of a sheet of plywood held against the wind.

I average around 15-16 mpg highway. When I was driving in town mostly, I'd get roughly 200 miles out of a tank, which is roughly around 10 mpg too.

Another thought here is that if you have factory gears and larger tires, your engine is having to take up the difference and is therefore working harder. Not only are you effectively getting a taller gear ratio, you're also adding mass to boot. All that adds up in more stress placed on the engine. The more stress it has, the more fuel it uses up. If you were to re-gear, you might actually gain better gas mileage (even after adjusting for speedometer error).

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />